It's a very strange letter. First, it's a letter to AT&T. AT&T needed a license from USO? I've missed something somewhere. Then there is no signature page. There are some egregious spelling mistakes and some typos too, but they are in the original. Could it be a draft of a letter, never sent? We know from Mr. Wilson's 2003 Declaration that he retired in 1991. I am only wondering here, but when you read this unfinished letter, I think you'll agree it invites questions.

At a minimum, if I were working on this case, I'd want to look at a lot of other Wilson letters to see if this is typical of his style. You'll note as well that there is a cutoff midsentence at the end of page three, and the sentence isn't finished anywhere. You skip directly to an attachment, which has, by the way, no spelling mistakes. That means there is no signature either.
1 Happily, Mr. Wilson is still living, and so he can answer all our questions.

If all you want is to buy time by raising issues that need looking into further, ideally by a jury, that makes this letter about perfect, from SCO's standpoint. I assume that they present it to the court to show, they think, that the letter contradicts his 2003 Declaration, in which he says says AT&T deliberately wanted to spread Unix on favorable terms to get Unix adopted broadly as a standard "by ensuring that UNIX System V ideas, concepts, know-how, methods and techniques would be widely known and understood by future programmers." The corollary to that adoption, of course, was that a lot of people got to see AT&T's source code, so that today, he says, "it is unlikely that there are many, if any, parts of the UNIX System V source code that could be said still to be confidential." Naturally, SCO doesn't want that to be true, so they submitted this partial letter to contradict. If it's the best they have, things aren't looking so good for SCO.

I've been thinking about educational licenses. IBM's license was commercial. But I noticed in the last article we transcribed, SCO's Memorandum in Opposition to IBM's Motion to Strike Materials Submitted by SCO in Opposition to IBM's Cross Motion For Partial Summary Judgment, in the second footnote, SCO mentioned that Andrew Tanenbaum (they don't mention his name there, but it's obviously who they mean) allegedly had an educational license and that his Minix was "based on and derived from" UNIX. The fact that Tanenbaum has said that isn't a bit true doesn't prevent SCO from making the allegation. That might explain why ADTI's Ken Brown went to the trouble of interviewing Tanenbaum but not Linus. Is it possible these dingbats plan on asserting that their elaborate derivative code theory gets its first ladder rung at Tanenbaum's Minix? I know it seems incredible, but can you see any other reason why they keep harping on educational licenses in connection with IBM? If that is their thinking, they are seriously doomed.

Upon your written concurrence as indicated below, USO will make
available to you licenses for certain of USO's SOFTWARE PRODUCT under
the terms of this Letter Agreement. Each such SOFTWARE PRODUCT shall
become subject to this Letter Agreement on acceptance by USO of
a Suppliment executed by you that identifies such SOFTWARE PRODUCT and lists the
DESIGNATED CPUs therefor. The first Suppliment for a specific
SOFTWARE PRODUCT shall
have attached a Schedule for such SOFTWARE PRODUCT listing the fees
payable by you for the
applicable licenses. Any additional terms and conditions set forth in
such Shedule shall also applywith respect to such SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
Initially, Supplement(s) numbered 1 and 2 are
included in and made part of this Letter Agreement.

Additional Suppliments may be added to this Letter Agreement to add
additional SOFTWARE PRODUCTS (and DESIGNATED CPUs therefor) or to add
or replace DESIGNATED CPUs for
other SOFTWARE PRODUCTS covered by previous Supplements. Each such additional
Suppliment shall be considered part of this Letter Agreement when
executed by you, if required,
and accepted by USO. Subject to the provisions of subparagraph (1)
below, additional or replacement CPUs shall be deemed to be DESIGNATED
CPUs on the date a copy of a
SOFTWARE PRODUCT covered by a previous Suppliment is first put into
use by you on such
additional or replacement CPU, (Terms in capital letters that are set
forth in this Letter Agreement
are defined in Attachment A hereto.)

The licenses granted to you are to (i) use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on
DESIGNATED CPU(s)
to modify such SOFTWARE PRODUCT and to make SUBLICENSED PRODUCTS based on such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, (ii) distribute such SUMLICENSED PRODUCTS internally
and to other
end-user customers, and (iii) permit access to SOFTWARE PRODUCT by
your contractors and allow use of SOFTWARE PRODUCTS by your
contractors on DESIGNATED CPUs, provided
such access and use is exclusively for you in connection with work
called for in written agreements
between you and such contractors entered into before or at the time of
permitting such access or
allowing such use. Such written agreement, which you shall diligently
enforce, shall be consistant
with the following:

(1) Contractors shall agree to the same responsibilities and
obligations and other restrictions
pertaining to the use of SOFTWARE PRODUCTS as those undertaken by you
under this letter agreement.

(page 1 of 4)

(2) When a contractor's work for you is completed, all copies of
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
furnished to such contractor or made by such contractor and all
copies of any modifications
or derivative works made by such contractor based on such SOFTWARE
PRODUCT shall
be returned to you or destroyed, including any copies stored in any
computer memory or
storage medium.

(3) A contractor may not acquire any ownership interest in any
modification or derivative work
prepared by such contractor based on or using a SOFTWARE PRODUCT
subject to this
Letter Agreement unless and until such contractor also becomes a
licensee of USO for such
SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

The conditions under which such licenses are granted to you are as follows:

(a) You will not provide access to any copy of the source code of
the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including methods and concepts contained
therein), in whole or in part, to anyone other
than your organization's employees who have a need to know.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of the paragraph above, you may
distribute copies of a
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, either in modified or unmodified form, to third
parties having
licenses of equivalent scope herewith from AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH
COMPANY ("AT&T"), or a corporate affiliate or authorized distributor
thereof, for the
same SOFTWARE PRODUCT, provided that you first verify the status of
the recipient by
calling USO at 800-328-8849 (or other number specified by USO). USO
will give written
verification of the recipient's status. You shall maintain a record
of each such distribution
and include such record in the quarterly report specified below.
Such record shall include,
for each such distribution, the identity of the recipient, the date
of the verification, the name
of the person at USO providing werification and the date of
distribution. You may also
obtain materials based on SOFTWARE PRODUCTS subject to this Letter
Agreement from
such a third party and use such materials pursuant to this Letter
Agreement provided that
you treat such materials hereunder the same as such SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

(c) You will restrict the number of copies of both SOFTWARE PRODUCTS and
SUBLICENSED PRODUCTS made by you to those necessary (including backup and
archival copies) to exercise the license above.

(d) No copies of a SUBLICENSED PRODUCT shall be distributed to a
non-AT&T end-user
customer unless and until you have entered into a written agreement
with such customer
that includes the substance of the following provisions:

(1) Only a personal, nontransferable and non-exclusive right to use
the software on one
machine at a time is granted to the customer.

(2) No title to the intellectual property in the software is
transferred to the customer.

(3) The customer will not copy the software except as necessary to
use the software on
such one machine.

(4) The customer will not transfer the software to any other party
unless authorized by
you to do so.

(5) The customer will not export or re-export the software without
the appropriate
license from the U. S. Government.

(6) The customer will not reverse compile or disassemble the software.

Such written agreement may be a document executed by the customer or
a "shrink wrap"
agreement. However, we prefer that shrink wrap agreements not be
used in those foreign
jurisdictions where it is not clear that our software is protected by
copyright.

If you plan to use distributors, you must insure that such
distributors pass on corresponding
provisions to their customers. If you permit such distributors to
make the copies of the
software they distribute, you will need to keep track of the
quantities such distributors make

(page 2 of 4)

for purposes of reporting such quantities to us and determining fees payable

(e) The written agreement contemplated in (d) above shall include
appropriate disclaimer of
any warranty by AT&T or any of its subsidiaries (including USO).

(f) Within thirty (30) days after the end of each quarter ending
on March 31st, June 30th,
September 3th or December 31st, commencing with the quarter during
which this Letter
Agreement first becomes effective, you must furnish to USO a written
statement identifying:

(1) the make, model, serial number and location of each additional or replacing
DESIGNATED CPU on which a copy of a specified SOFTWARE PRODUCT was
installed during such quarter and the equivalent inforation for any DESIGNATED
CPU(s) which were replaced during such quarter;
(2) the right to use fees for such additional DESIGNATED CPUs;
(3) the number of copies of each SUBLICENSED PRODUCT put into use by you during
such quarter, furnished by you to other AT&T entities or to
customers or distributors
during such quarter or reported to you during such quarter as having
been made and
furnished to customers and other distributors by your distributors
to whome you have
given the right to copy;

(4) the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on which each such SUBLICENSED PRODUCT is based;

(5) the initial sublicensing fee, if applicable, for any such SOFTWARE PRODUCT;

(6) the per-copy sublicensing fees for such copies and, if
applicable, whether such fees are based on such factors as a
limitation on number of users, a fee for a combination of products or
a right granted to a customer to use a copy of a SUBLICENSED
PRODUCT on multiple CPUs;

(7) the NET AMOUNT of the quarterly payment relating to per-copy fees; and

(8) the DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE used in calculating such NET AMOUNT.

(g) You may be entitled to a discount on per-copy sublicensing fees
payable for SUBLICENSED
PRODUCTS distributed during a twelve (12) month calendar year. Such
discount shall be based on either the GROSS AMOUNT for such period or
the GROSS AMOUNT for the immediately preceding period, if any,
whichever yields the greater discount; provided
however, that for the period covering calendar year 1990, such
discount may, at your option be the grester of the discount calculated
per the preceding sentence or forty-five percent
(45%).

(h) You may estimate a GROSS AMOUNT for any additional one-year
period in which you
expect the GROSS AMOUNT to be higher than that for the immediately
preceding period.
However, if you calculate any quarterly payment during a period based
on such an estimate,
then the total amount paid after the first, second, and third full
quarters of such period must
be, respectively, at least one quarter, one half and three quarters
of the NET AMOUNT
calculated using such estimated GROSS AMOUNT and such corresponding DISCOUNT
PERCENTAGE. At the end of each period for which an estimated GROSS AMOUNT has
been used, the actual DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE and actual NET AMOUNT shall be
determined from the actual GROSS AMOUNT for such period and the final quarterly
payment shall be determined by subtracting the total of the quarterly
payments previously
made for such period from such NET AMOUNT. If such total exceeds the
actual NET
AMOUNT, the excess shall be credited against future quarterly
payments for per-copy
sublicensing fees. Such excess shall not be refunded.

(i) If you do not make an estimate pursuant to the paragraph above,
then the payment for each
quarter in a period shall be calculated by determining a NET AMOUNT
from the GROSS
AMOUNT for the portion of such period up to the end of such quarter
and subtracting from
such NET AMOUNT the total of any quarterly payments already made for
such period.
The DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE used in determining such NET AMOUNT shall either be

(page 3 of 4)

ATTACHMENT A

DEFINITIONS

1. CPU means central processing unit.

2. COMPUTER PROGRAM means any instruction or instructions, in
source-code or object-
code format, for controlling the operation of a CPU.

3. DESIGNATED CPU means any CPU listed as such for a specific
SOFTWARE PRODUCT in
a Supplement to this Letter Agreement.

4. SOFTWARE PRODUCT means materials such as COMPUTER PROGRAMS, information
used or interpreted by COMPUTER PROGRAMS and documentation relating to
the use of
COMPUTER PROGRAMS. Materials available from USO for a specific SOFTWARE
PRODUCT are listed in the Schedule for such SOFTWARE PRODUCT. Certain
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS available under this Letter Agreement may contain materials
prepared by other developers.

5. SUBLICENSED PRODUCT means (i) COMPUTER PROGRAMS in object-code format
based on a SOFTWARE PRODUCT subject to this Letter Aggreement and
(ii) any other materials identified in the "Sublicensing"
section of the Schedule for such SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

6. GROSS AMOUNT for a calendar year (or portions thereof) means the
total amount of per-copy sublicensing fees accrued during such calender year (or portion thereof).

7. NET AMOUNT for a calendar year (or portion thereof) means the
amount determined from
the GROSS AMOUNT by the DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE for such calendar year (or portion
thereof) and subtracting the result from such GROSS AMOUNT.

8. DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE for a calendar year (or portion thereof) is the
percentage
calculated from the previous calendar year's GROSS AMOUNT by using the
following
formula:

DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE= GROSS AMOUNT for previous calendar year
GROSS AMOUNT + 3.75 million X 100%
up to a maximum of sixty percent (60%). The DISCOUNT PERCENTAGE for a
calendar year
following a calendar year during which the GROSS AMOUNT was less than
$100,000.00 is zero
percent (0%).

1 Because there is a page missing, and because we obtained this document from the court, we'll double check to make certain that the exhibit is missing page four in the original filed at the court. It isn't missing on our end.